This morning we flew to Brisbane for a couple of days, to visit the touring NASA exhibition, which is not coming to Melbourne. We planned this several months ago; however it wasnt until last weekend that I thought to check the orienteering calendar. Sure enough, there was a Tuesday NightNav event on in Brisbane, or to be more precise, Indooroopilly – a name which rolls beautifully off the tongue!

We’re staying on the northern edge of the CBD, on the 9th floor of a hotel with a nice view of twinkling city lights. We went for a short walk earlier this afternoon and had a look at the nearby cathedral (photos tomorrow), then at 5pm we set off for the Wild West of Indooroopilly. Mastering the local train system, we travelled 6 stops west, and walked 1.5km to the park where the start was set up. It’s always easy to find the orienteers as they cluster around a small table in the dark, peering at a map on a table with their head torches. We introduced ourselves and several people knew who we were, at least by name.

This was a 40 minute Score event with a theoretical mass start at 6.30pm, although they let people start any time after about 6.15. Unlike our events, the map with controls was displayed, and people were marking their routes with highlighters, rogaine style. The points system was rogaine style as well, though it seemed rather random. There was one control worth 200 points, several worth 100 points, and the rest varied from 20 to 90 points.

Ian and I didnt bother with any planning – we are too used to picking up our map and figuring it out on the fly. Though I did work out that my options were going to be pretty limited, as there was a big loop to the south with no way to cut back if you found yourself short of time; so I was pretty much stuck with the steeper north. Optimistically I set off at a gentle jog to the first control. That lasted about a minute as I got to the first of many hills. I tried to run a couple more times but quickly gave up and settled for a brisk walk.

Now I am a veteran of over 2000 streetOs, and about half of those have been at night, so I’m no stranger to darkened streets. However this map was one of the most challenging I’ve done in the dark – no footpaths to speak of, poorly lit, and very steep. Think of the top end of Ivanhoe, or the hilly parts of Koolunga, and you’ll know what I mean. It’s the sort of map we’d enjoy in daylight, but in the dark it was a bit of a survival test. Especially in my current unbalanced state! Nevertheless I pressed on and managed 6 controls in 35 minutes. Ian fared much better with 18 controls (out of 26) and 4th place, though he lost 30 points for being 7 seconds late! And he ran off the map.

Afterwards we hiked back towards civilisation, and found Betty’s Burgers, where all burgers were gluten free. The perfect post-race food, and it was warm enough to sit outside. Imagine doing that in Melbourne in mid June!